Steaming Mugs
by Dragonstar19
Summary: The Asgardians have been on Earth for many months now, and Loki's still lying around at home, avoiding interaction. Peter wants him to get to know more about the human world, and Thor wants him to do something useful. Their solution? Getting him a job at a coffee shop. Takes place in an AU where Infinity war never happens.
1. Chapter 1

Alyssa's coffee shop, the Cat's Cup, was a small, single person owned cafe known for its two shop cats and its high quality brew. Well, Alyssa liked to think that they were known for their coffee as well, but she knew that a lot of people came mainly for the cats, Tabitha and Spade. Tabitha was a slightly chubby orange tabby who was extremely social, and her sister Spade was a thin, black cat with a spade shaped white patch on her chest. Spade was more shy and reserved, rarely going up to people, but would still walk around the shop occasionally and let people admire her from afar.

The Cat's Cup was a relatively small cafe, but large enough that it felt very open and comfortable, especially with their large windows letting in the sun (Alyssa had gotten them custom made and was very proud of them). Many regulars liked to come here to do work or work on their school assignments, and she knew most of them by name. Today had been a quiet day, and Alyssa had taken the time to clean up the counter and wash up the cups while a couple of the regulars did their own work at the tables, tapping away at their laptops or scribbling in their notebooks.

The ding of a bell rang through the coffee shop as Alyssa heard the swoosh of the door swinging open. She looked up from polishing the cups as the short figure of the boy who had just entered approached the counter. As he reached the front, hair messy from the wind and wearing a large backpack filled to the brim with textbooks (she still wondered how he managed to carry so many at once and not get back pain), Alyssa put aside the rag and the cup she was cleaning, leaning on the counter.

"Hey Peter." She greeted him. "The regular?"

"Yep, you know it." He smiled, handing her some cash and a couple of coins. Tabitha, the slightly chubby orange tabby gave out a small mew and padded over to greet him. Peter reached down to pet her. "Hey Tabs," he greeted, giving a warm smile as she entwined herself around his legs and started purring contently.

Alyssa smiled down at her before taking the money and logging it into the register. Turning around, she started with Peter's order, a chilled cup of hot chocolate (cold chocolate?) and a croissant.

"So how was school?" she asked, busying herself with the making of the drink.

"Mmm, not bad today. I had a test, but I think I did pretty well." Peter said sounding pretty happy.

"Oh really?" she said. "That's great." Alyssa glanced back for a moment, only to see Peter still at the counter. Strange.

Whenever Peter came, which was around once or twice a week, he would usually take a seat to do some work for a couple of hours. The cats seemed to really like him, and would always come visit him at his table. Even Spade, Tabitha's shy sister who usually liked to stay by the counter would come to Peter for snuggles.

"Hey, you're not gonna take a seat today?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not today, I- I kinda have some things to do later." he said, shifting. "Actually, I came here to ask you something today."

"Go ahead, shoot."

"So, you know how you guys take reformed criminals?"

Alyssa nodded. One thing that the Cat's Cup was also known for, though it was less common knowledge, was that they would hire reformed criminals, or people who had gone to jail before that usually wouldn't get hired. Personally, Alyssa believed that everyone could be redeemed, and that no person was truly evil, which was why she decided to do this. She wanted to help set people on the right path, and to help people get the start that they otherwise would have had trouble were many who worked here as their first job after prison, and she had helped them move on to better jobs. So far, she had come up with good results, and now had around 3 permanent employees, 2 of which were people with a past criminal record. The other was a close friend she had known for many years.

Others had come and gone, but these three employees had stayed here through thick and thin. Though by looking at some of them one may have been wary at first, Alyssa had come to find that they were good people, and she wouldn't have traded them for any other employee in the world.

Peter continued, shaking her out of her thoughts. "I actually have a friend who's looking for a job. He's kind of, a reformed criminal as people might say, though I promise he's actually a really good person now." he said eagerly. "He didn't really know where to start, so I recommended that he apply for a job here. Do you think maybe he could come here for an interview tomorrow?" he asked, eyes bright.

Alyssa sighed. Peter was such a nice kid, and there was no way she could resist those huge, brown eyes, especially when he was asking so earnestly. "Of course. We were needing a new member anyways since Kevin moved on. Our schedule isn't too tight tomorrow, so I think that Robert and Joaquin should be able to manage without me for a while." Alyssa tapped her finger on her chin thoughtfully, before deciding. "I'll make the interview for tomorrow at 9, how does that sound?" she asked.

"That's great!" Peter grinned. "Thank you so much!" He started on his way out, a small skip in his step, before Alyssa called out to him.

"Hey Pete, aren't you gonna take your food?"

Peter turned around, embarrassed, and came back to take his drink and the brown paper bag with his croissant that Alyssa handed to him. "Haha, whoops, sorry about that." He said, his face slightly red.

Alyssa smiled. "Nothing to be sorry about. Just a bit of excitement." she said as he turned to exit again. She waved. "Have a nice day!"

Peter turned his head and waved as he went through the door, the bell chiming. "Thanks again, Alyssa! Promise he won't let you down!"

Alyssa smiled fondly as he disappeared down the street. Ah, that kid. Always so bright and kind. She briefly questioned what his friend would be like, then shook her head and returned to polishing, deciding it didn't matter. If Peter trusted him, he was bound to be good.

**Author's note: So this will have a storyline, but I'm also looking for lots of cute moments and Loki dealing with the pains of customer service :) If you guys have any customers or incidents you want to see him deal with, feel free to comment down below!**


	2. Chapter 2

Another morning, another day. Today was a Saturday, which meant that the morning would be less busy than usual because of most people sleeping in, which was perfect for a job interview. Robert and Joaquin were both in today, which gave her the time to conduct the interview. Unfortunately the third employee, Tiffany, a good friend Alyssa had known for years, couldn't make it today. _We should be able to manage though, _Alyssa thought. Worst comes to worst, the line just gets longer than usual. Nothing too hard to handle. Plus, if things go well, they'll have an extra helping hand by the end of the day.

This morning she had informed both of her employees that she was conducting an interview today, so both were prepared to work a bit more if needed. And, prepared to train a new addition to the team (hopefully). Alyssa usually believed in getting straight to work, so most people she hired would begin training right away then be put to work right after if they were accepted. It helped the people that needed it get paid sooner and worked just as well as if they were to begin on a later date.

Alyssa looked up, checking the clock. It was 8:30, and almost time for the interview. There were only one or two customers in the cafe at the moment, so she let Robert know that she was going to start setting up then headed to the back.

After he promised that he would be able to handle it, and that no, one or two hours by himself won't be too much, and to stop worrying, she finally started setting up the interview and tidying up the room that they usually did them in, since it had become quite cluttered with their spare junk over the past few months.

Just as she was finishing up, a head with a bushy beard popped in through the door. "Hey Alyssa, the new guy's here." Robert informed her. "You ready yet?"

"Yeah, bring him in!" Alyssa told him. Robert left to fetch Peter's friend and Alyssa sat down at the desk, straightening her clothes in one last attempt to look a bit neater. The door to the room swung open again, and this time it was Peter's friend who walked in. Robert peeked out from behind him, giving a thumbs up and a grin before running back to the shop counter.

The first thing she noticed about the person who had just entered was the long raven hair that hung just past his shoulders and his angled face. He was dressed in a perfectly ironed suit and a stylish scarf, and held himself with an air of importance. Under the desk, Alyssa's fingers instinctively pulled on the edges of her shirt, feeling too casually dressed with her and last season skirt and shirt wrinkled from work.

"Welcome! Please, take a seat." Alyssa welcomed the newcomer with a friendly smile. She smushed her worries into the back of her mind, entering business mode, or what Tiff liked to call her, "1 percent more serious mode."

"Nice to meet you, I'm Alyssa." she stuck out her hand. Alyssa suddenly realized that she didn't even know the candidate's name. Man, she really had been quick in agreeing with Peter, hadn't she? He hadn't even given her a name yet before she said okay to him.

"Nodison. Lukas Nodison." he took her hand and shook it, his grip surprisingly firm for such thin fingers.

"Nice to meet you, Lukas. So, you're a friend of Peter's?" she asked him. She usually started with a few relaxed or fun questions before getting down to business, just to make the other person feel more at ease. Their workplace was usually pretty relaxed, and she wanted to make sure that the interviewees felt comfortable here.

"Yeah," he answered.

"How did you guys meet?"

"My brother introduced me to him. They were working on the same team for a project, and they became fast friends."

Alyssa nodded. With a personality like Peter's, people were bound to like him. Though for some reason, he had told her that he wasn't exactly popular at school. _Probably because of his more nerdy demeanor_, she thought.

"My brother thought that Peter would be a good influence on me, and maybe he would 'get me out of my shell,' as my brother put it." Lukas explained. "Though, they may have gone a bit too far by making me get a job." Loki looked down for a moment. "I suppose their plan worked though." he muttered, looking half exasperated.

"You know what, it sounds just like Peter to make someone get a job. I feel bad that you're being forced to work somewhere as terrible and boring as my small coffee shop." Alyssa joked.

"That is, if I get the job." Lukas replied.

Alyssa waved him away. "Nah, don't worry. You're doing fine."

"I'm going to be honest with you, I don't know how to make coffee, nor anything related to it." Lukas admitted, looking at her right in the eye. Alyssa got an odd feeling, like he was trying to accomplish something by saying that.

"Don't fret, we'll teach you everything. Things like that have never stopped anyone from getting a job here. Plenty of our employees start off knowing _nada_ about coffee and all that stuff, but they learn. Some actually came here never having drank a cup in their life!" Alyssa chuckled.

Lukas gave a small laugh, though it seemed almost half-hearted. He seemed… disappointed? He hid it well, but Alyssa had always prided herself upon reading people well. Hm. After a thought, Alyssa decided that it was true, he didn't really seem like the type to get his hands dirty with things like washing dishes, based on how well-kept and dignified he looked. He looked much more suited to being a businessman or a politician than someone like a barista.

It made Alyssa wonder what he did to end up here. How did he end up in jail? What was he doing before he became a criminal? Perhaps a robbery? He didn't seem like the type. Tax evasion? Maybe? Alyssa grabbed some stapled together papers from the side of her desk, flipping it open. She didn't come here to judge people on why they needed this job.

"Ok, I'm going to ask a few 'official interview' questions now. They're not hard though, just the standard ones you usually see." she told Lukas.

Lukas raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

Alyssa cleared her throat and started reading the top of the list. "So, what are your greatest…"

**Ok, so I finally got the second chapter up and published! The update schedule for this fic will probably vary, since it's for fun and I have a lot of homework most of the time. On a bright note, we're finally gonna get a Loki POV next chapter! Plus interactions with Thor and Peter (probably, depending on how the chapter goes)**

**This story was intended to be ship free, but I'm wondering if anyone wants to see any ships at all (not necessarily with Loki)?**

**Also, if there's any funny situations or customers from hell that you want to see Loki deal with, please leave a review! It would really help me with inspo and get the next chapters to you quicker :)**

**Until then, peace out *fades into dust***


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